by Selina (link)
Genre het, romance
Pairings Isaac/OFC
Length 34 chapters and epilogue
Status Completed
The “Sex in the City” aesthetic is one that pops up from time to time in hanfic, although admittedly less so in the years since the band has returned to Tulsa from their brief stay in New York. It’s no surprise that Selina is a fan of said aesthetic, as she does a good job (if you ask a non-SITC fan such as myself) of embodying it in Other Than You.
Although her Zac and Taylor, who make very brief appearances in this fic, are superb, the real focus is on Isaac and the original female character who ends up enlisting his help to recover from her divorce. She’s young and fairly inexperienced, but reads a bit older and more uptight so that I keep forgetting she is meant to be just a bit younger than me. Still, Erin is a fairly interesting character, but Isaac is even moreso. The suave, suit-wearing man we know and love is a mysterious, one-night-stand having business man here, and although it takes a while to reveal, it’s clear he has a deeper story hiding beneath his surface.
There’s nothing horribly unique about any of that, except that it isn’t really like any other hanfic I’ve ever read–and not just because of the focus on Ike. Other Than You does just enough different to make a basic taming the perpetual bachelor sort of plot feel fresh. The descriptions of material possessions are in keeping with the setting and feel as appropriate as they did in Selina’s other fic. There’s a very subtle sexiness to the fic that I would have liked to have seen even more of–the early sex scene that fades to black leaves me wanting a lot more.
It’s no surprise how the story is going to end, though. Romcoms can really only end one way, can’t they? The only surprise here is just how Selina will get her characters to their inevitable conclusion. That said, the last few chapters feel a bit anti-climatic, even though Isaac and Erin’s ending is unconventional enough to suit the two of them perfectly.
Review by Bethany (website)